Flag football belt



Aug. 5, 1958 R. F. ROSELLE FLAG FOOTBALL BELT Filed May 11, 1956 INVENTOR. Ronald F. Roselle Arrorneys United States Patent FLAG FOOTBALL BELT Ronald F. Roselle, Wellton, Ariz. Application May 11, 1956, Serial No. 584,350

1 Claim. (Cl. 273-55) This invention relates generally to belts and more particularly to belts for use in playing flag football.

T make football safer to play, various modifications have been made in the game so that the game can be played by youngsters. For example, touch football has been played for many years. More recently, flag football is being played in which the players carry or wear a piece of material, such as a handkerchief carried in a pocket, which can be readily removed by the pursuing player or tackler. However, in playing flag football in this manner it has been found that injuries still have occurred.

In general it is an object of the present invention to provide a belt which will make it safer to play flag football.

Another object of the invention is to provide a belt of the above character which releasably engages the waist of the player.

Another object of the invention is to provide a belt of the above character in which the belt can be easily grasped.

Another object of the invention is to provide a belt of the above character in which the means for releasably securing the ends of the belt are attached to the belt by particularly novel means.

Additional objects and features of the invention will appear from the following description in which the preferred embodiments have been set forth in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view showing a belt embodying the present invention secured to the waist of a player.

Figure 2 is a view of the belt showing it in a stretchedout position.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the belt taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 4 showing the means for releasably securing the ends of the belt.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view similar to that shown in Figure 3 taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 6 showing a modification of my belt; and

Figure 6 is a view taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 5.

In general, the present invention consists of a belt of flexible material having a plurality of streamers depending therefrom. The ends of the belt are adapted to be fastened together by releasable means so that when a player grabs one of the streamers, the belt may be pulled oif of the player Without injury to the player.

As shown in the drawing, my invention consists of a length of suitable flexible material such as canvas which has been folded and sewn together to form an elongate flexible member 11. A plurality of streamers 12, preferably of the same material, are sewn between the layers of materials forming the elongate member 11 and are spaced along the intermediate portion of the elongate 2,846,224 Patented Aug. 1958 "ice member 11. The edges of the streamers may also be sewn to prevent raveling.

Suitable means .is provided for releasably connecting the .ends 1 1a and 11b of :the flexible member 1 1. 'Gne means found to be suitable is shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 and consists of a clothes pin 14 which has one end fastened within the open end 11a of the flexible member 11. A draw string 16 is accommodated within a foldedover portion 17 of the member 11 and is adapted to bring the end 11a into engagement with grooves 18 provided between raised portions 14a on the clothes pin 14. Thus, after the draw string 16 is tightened, the clothes pin 14 is firmly held within the end 11a.

Use of my belt for flag football may now be described as follows: Let it be assumed that the belt shown in Figure 2 has been clamped to each of the players engaged in the game of flag football. This is accomplish merely by wrapping the belt around the waist of the player and fastening the clothes pin 14 to the end 11b of the belt. It is apparent from Figure 4 that the clothes pin 14 can be readily operated even though the operating portion of the clothes pin is enclosed within the end 11a. The length of the belt can be adjusted to accommodate the players waist by folding over the end of the belt and fastening the folded end in the jaws of the clothes pin 14.

Let it also be assumed that one of the players is carrying the ball as shown in Figure 1. The other players or tacklers pursuing the ball-carrying try to grab one of the streamers 12 so that they can pull the belt from the player. If the belt is pulled olf of the ball-carrying player, he is considered to have been successfully tackled.

The belt is secured to the player in such a manner that it will not fall off of its own accord, but can be readily pulled from the player when one of the streamers 12 is grasped. This prevents injury to any of the players playing flag football.

The corners of the clothes pin 14 have been rounded so as to prevent injury to a player if the player should be accidentially struck by the clothes pin. In the event the clothes pin 14 is broken, it can be readily removed by untying the draw string 16 and inserting another clothes pin.

The streamers 12 may be carried in any desired position on the players, but preferably they should be carried in the rear, as shown in Figure 1. In this way the streamers flap outwardly from the body of the running player so that they may be grasped readily without striking the body of the player.

Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Figures 5 and 6. The belt shown in Figures 5 and 6 is provided with narrow end portions 19 which are connected to a clothes pin 21 by a string 22 extending through holes 23 in the narrow end portions 19 and holes (not shown) in the clothes pin 21. The string 22 is knotted and securely fastens the clothes pin to the narrow end portions 19 of the belt. The two halves of the clothes pin 21 are fastened together by a string 24 to prevent the clothes pin 21 from accidentally being pulled apart. The operation of this belt is similar to that hereinbefore described.

It is apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a belt which can be used for playing flag football and which serves to make the playing of flag football a much safer game. The releasable means for securing the ends of the belt insures that the belt will be readily released when it has been grabbed by a player.

I claim:

In a flag football belt, an elongate flexible member formed of material folded over and sewn together and adapted to encircle the waist of a player, one end of I said flexible member being open, a friction clamp mounted in the open end of said member and a draw string mounted in the open end of said member and adapted to draw the open end of the member into engagement with the clamp to hold the clamp firmly in place, and at least one streamer fixed to said elongate member and depending from said elongate member to facilitate grabbing of the belt from the player wearing the belt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

